AMUSE Floor Fellows: Negotiation Update

News

On February 6, representatives of the Union and McGill met in the presence of the Arbitrator appointed by the Ministry of Labour, to establish their positions and discuss next steps for negotiations on a first collective agreement. This meeting was held following McGill’s decision not to endorse an agreement that includes both free room & board and wages for work performed.

The University indicated its willingness to either continue the mediation with the assistance of the Arbitrator on monetary parameters, or to ask the Arbitrator to arbitrate this section of the collective agreement. The University is supportive of all other clauses previously agreed upon by the parties.

The Union informed the Arbitrator and McGill of its decision to discontinue discussions at this time, and to ask the Arbitrator to possibly arbitrate the majority of the clauses of the collective agreement, including the monetary parameters.

The Arbitrator will proceed with the arbitration of the collective agreement. The Arbitrator asked each party to provide the name of the legal counsel who will represent them in the arbitration, and the list of articles to be arbitrated. Once the Arbitrator is informed of the names of each party’s legal counsel and of the list of articles to arbitrate, a calendar of activities will be established.

The Arbitrator informed the parties that the earliest availability to begin the arbitration will be in the fall of 2017.